Haaland double leads opening day breeze
Manchester City beat Burnley 3-0 in the Premier League opener as Erling Haaland bagged two but the Clarets made it uncomfortable for Pep Guardiola’s reigning champs.
Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City beat Burnley 3-0 at Turf Moor to open the new season but it wasn’t as straightforward as the scoreline suggests.
City’s fans chanted “Champions of Europe” and “Champions of England” simultaneously throughout and in the end their class on the pitch showed.
Erling Haaland scored twice in the first half, because he’s Erling Haaland. But City lacked fluidity throughout as Burnley pressed high as they forced the reigning champs into defensive mistakes and made Pep Guardiola uncomfortable.
Rodri smashed home a third in the closing stages as City eased to victory in the end but they had to work very hard for this as they shook off plenty of early-season rust.
On this showing, Vincent Kompany and the many new, and young, players he has signed this summer will be just fine on their return to the Premier League after a one-year absence. Substitute Anaas Zaroury was sent off late on for a lunging tackle on Kyle Walker and despite that red card and the defeat, Kompany will be happy with what he saw from his side, especially in the first half.
Berated Haaland his usual clinical self but Kevin de Bruyne injury a concern
Haaland’s two first-time finishes were sublime as he finished calmly just four minutes in and then curled home a stunner to put City in a commanding position. He scored twice from his three shots in the first half but that wasn’t enough to stop him being berated by Pep Guardiola at the half time whistle. Pep surged straight to Haaland and then shoved the TV cameras out of the way as he had words with Haaland, who barely seemed to be listening. Pep often does this and he probably wasn’t happy with the way City played in the first 45 in particular as they didn’t have their usual control of the game.